Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) told reporters that asking politically appointed officials to renounce their year-end bonus was one among the many options recently proposed to the Cabinet.
He said he needed to consult other agencies before making a decision.
Regarding the year-end bonus for employees of state-owned enterprises, Liu said that revising the system required more deliberation as awarding bonuses was a longstanding practice.
In related developments, Central Personnel Administration (CPA) Minister Chen Ching-hsiu (陳清秀) said the administration decided on Monday that military personnel, teachers and public servants on government payroll would receive 1.5 months’ salary as their year-end bonus.
The amount of the bonus was in line with spending earmarked for the purpose, which was written last year in this year’s government budget statement and was already approved by the legislature.
Chen Ching-hsiu said the suggestion was still pending Liu’s approval.
The year-end bonus will be sent to about the 900,000 government employees on Jan. 16, 10 days prior to Lunar New Year, Chen Ching-hsiu said.
Meanwhile, Vice Premier Paul Chiu (邱正雄) said on Tuesday night that following requests by the business sector to the bank association, banks would extend their closing time from 3:30pm to 5:30pm from Jan. 19 to Jan. 23.
Chiu said businesses made the request so they could make the necessary allocation of funds before banks close for the nine-day Lunar New Year holiday.
Also yesterday, Department of Health Minister Yeh Ching-chuan (葉金川) said that a plan submitted by the Bureau of National Health Insurance to give bureau employees a year-end bonus equal to 3.8 months of salary had been rejected.
At a Legislative Yuan committee meeting, Yeh said he had given the bureau two weeks to come up with a new plan.
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